Sunday, January 22, 2017

Hello! I wanted to give listeners and readers a heads up that I will be kicking off a Knitted Knocker KAL/CAL on February 1. The next podcast might not be until after the kick off date, so I wanted to post information here ahead of time.

On February 1st we will be kicking off at KAL/CAL for Knitted Knockers. Knitted Knockers are comfortable prosthetics for women who have had
mastectomies, lumpectomies and radiation, and/ or are undergoing
reconstruction. They are more comfortable for women who are newly
post-surgery than the silicon alternatives.

Here are the rules for a KAL/CAL to be eligible for prizes. If you
are not interested in prizes still feel free to post your knocker wips
and fos in the chatter thread on Ravelry or you can even post them in the Wool Ewe Please group that I admin on Facebook.

KAL/CAL Rules for Prizes

On February 1st we will be kicking off at KAL/CAL for Knitted Knockers.
Knitted Knockers are comfortable prosthetics for women who have had
mastectomies, lumpectomies and radiation, and/ or are undergoing
reconstruction. They are more comfortable for women who are newly
post-surgery than the silicon alternatives.

Cast on must happen on or after February 1, 2017 and knitting/crocheting must be finished before April 30, 2017.

Knockers must be in their “finished” state as determined by the
organization. The knitting and crocheting need to be finished, but they
do not need to be stuffed. The organization will stuff them or you can
stuff them yourself. Do not close the hole in the back! That’s how the
stuffing is adjusted by the recipient.

You are responsible for delivering your knocker to the Knitted
Knockers organization or local collection point. Or you can send them to
me and I will send them on.

Knockers should be knit or crocheted from one of the approved yarns and approved patterns.
The organization will only use knockers made from the approved yarns.
Many of these yarns are available at your local yarn stores or online.

For prize purposes, post a separate picture of each of knocker that you finish.

No chatter in this thread. Please share your wips, fos, questions, comments, and support in the chatter thread.

The KAL/CAL will run until April 30.

Prizes

1 set of Knitter’s Pride Interchangeable Cubics Platina needles (donated by me/Dyeabolical) 2 skeins of Dyeabolical Yarns Super Ego BFL (donated by me/Dyeabolical) 1 skein of handspun from the very talented spinner, zinniz
If you would like to donate a prize please let me know.

I have added 5 new colors to the shop. They are available as dyed-to-order on any of our bases. The Caterpillar is a denim blue with garden green highlights. Ever After is a semisolid royal purple. Zombie Shuffle is a gray-green semisolid with blue gray speckles. Lobster Quadrille is a semisolid reddish-orange. Back in the Saddle Again
is a golden brown semisolid. For my Alice in Wonderland fans, The
Caterpillar and Lobster Quadrille are both Wonderland inspired!

finishing 1 yarn-eating baby blanket that is so big that it can hardly be considered baby-sized (hibernating)
finishing 1 steeked sweater only in need of steeking and a zipper (zipper ordered)
finishing 1 Cheetos Dust/Lemongrass Sweater (ribbing and 2 sleeves away from wearing)
finishing 4 sock wips (squirrel!)
finishing 3 fingerless mitts wips, 2 of which started as socks (two squirrels!)
finishing 1 hat that I started on Friday (nearly there!)
make 2 sweaters on the knitting machine (Boxy in sock yarn, plus an "over the top" type summer sweater in linen, plus maybe learning to make something other than squares on the knitting machine)
make 1 baby blanket from the Classic Elite Sprout in my stash
charity knits for the Mother Bear Project and Knitted Knockers
working down 1 full bin of stash yarn through knitting, crochet or weaving
knit 5+ miles of finished projects (I use knitmeter.com to keep track)

Resolutions
It's super unpopular lately to make resolutions, but bah humbug, I'm doing it anyway. These are my non-knitting goals for 2017.

Figure out how I want to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Dyeabolical this spring. I'm open to suggestions. (Pretty please with yarn on top)

Spend half a work day, or the equivalent of, in continuing education - read about the history of color, color's influence on history, history's influence on color, color meanings, keep up on industry news, read relevant business books, and take classes.

Make friends with my new camera.

Make one new recipe per week. We received a new Instant Pot for Christmas and it's a game changer. It does a great job keeping cooking smells contained and I can make dinner in my dining room, which is a helpful thing when the kitchen counters are employed as a dye studio 3x/week. It also does a great job with cheap cuts of meat.

Work reasonable hours. If I need to work overtime then it had better be at the dye pots and not in front of a computer working on boring things, but that's not how 2016 went. Less computer time, more creative time.

Come back to this post at tax time so I can remind myself that paperwork is temporary and that I actually like my job. Just do the work, Rachel, and I promise you that you can buy a new camera lens when you're done filing.

Edited to add one - Declutter by trashing/recycling/giving away one item per day

About Me

Hello! Welcome to Knit. Dye. Read. I am Rachel--a knitter, dyer, and lover of books and I love to talk about all 3 things. You can find show notes from my podcast, book reviews, and posts about projects that I am working on here.

I am the owner, dyer, and operator for Dyeabolical® Yarns, a small indie yarn company focusing on hand dyed yarns and spinning fibers.